MvsA: A terrible OC fan fic extravaganza
by Kackington
Summary: Here's a re-write of my very old and horrible MvsA fan fic featuring my terrible self-insert OC who's a werewolf. The fic pretty much just runs through the movie with her included and from her perspective, and spends a lot of time inspecting the feelings and actions of the other monsters. Once I get past telling my OC's story, most of the dialog is dedicated to what the others do.
1. I

**Okay so let me preface this by just saying that I'm a terrible writer. And also I've been writing this super late at night, so I'm sure it's full of stuff that doesn't make any sense, and I'm sorry about that. And YES PERSONALLY I REALLY dislike MvsA OC stories, but I'm going to admit to being a hypocrite and say that I like writing my own. And also, yes, the first time I wrote this (which was back in 2009) I didn't really have any OCs to actually write about so I used my fursona/werewolf "self" because I'm not creative enough to write about others. (However I think I'm getting better at this, I find the more I write on this the more inspired I am to make more characters)**

**SO YEAH this is kind of just like a re-write of a very old and horrible MvsA fan fic I wrote back when the movie first originally came out. Hopefully once I get enough time, I'll write some stuff on the actual sort of MvsA writing I like (which is stuff that doesn't include OCs) and maybe even some of my own stuff since I've got some comic ideas I want to put into action, but yeah, until then here's some... bad writing...ENJOY?**

* * *

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Just another minute or two—"

Getting up was a little harder than usual. My limbs tingled like television static.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Eh..."

I looked up through bleary eyes at the ceiling. With each beep the buzzer high above my head lit the room with a dim, red glow. It became a little bit easier to move as I regained consciousness. Taking in a shaky breath, I picked myself up and into a sitting position. I could feel my head and heart beat in time as I sat there.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Wow, that's becoming obnoxious. The sound of the buzzer filled the small space, making the dark room considerably more eerie than it should have been. Suddenly there was a sort of clicking sound just outside of the walls, and the cell began to move. Tensing up, I went along with the room, moving downwards at an increasingly rapid pace. I prepared for the worst as the room came to a sudden stop, jostling me from my position on the floor.

The wall opposite of me began to ascend, filling my little room with a brilliantly white light. It was quiet for a moment as I stared wearily into the other vacant, lustrous room. I blinked, unsure of what to do or what to think of this new environment. I would have stayed in that position longer, but the wall I had been pressed against foiled my plan and began to move outwards, pushing me into the light of that sterile space. With my old, dark cell now gone, I stood on shaky legs and wandered out into the room. The place was gigantic; its ceiling seemed to stretch upward for miles. The only objects occupying this new room were two tables and a couple of chairs. However one of the two tables, even from a distance, appeared to be about four stories tall. Still feeling weak, I slowly approached the center of the room, craning my neck to see the underside of the giant tabletop overhead.

"That's something you don't see everyday."

I muttered under my breath, moving over to the smaller, normal sized, table. This table had four chairs placed neatly around its sides, as opposed to the giant's one. I decided I deserved a break, even though I had only walked a little ways out, and took a seat at the normal sized table.

Taking a moment, I tried to recall what happened to me before that blaring siren woke me. It was difficult; my head was still spinning and trying to process my current situation. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, exhaling weakly.

My name is Katherine. I'm a student, I have a family, I have some friends. I can remember that stuff. I'm also a werewolf, but that's not really important. Okay, well, I lied; I guess that kind of is important. Now that I think about it, that's probably the entire reason why I'm here. Where ever _here_ is.

My senses are beginning to return as I sat there, relaxing and taking everything into account. Yeah, I remember now. Why I'm here, how it happened.

It's a pretty good story, but there really isn't any time to tell it. My head snapped up as the wall in front of me comes to life, four different panels rising just as my own room did a few minutes ago. Without even realizing, I hopped up and out of my chair and crept away behind the base of the gigantic table in the center of the room. Assuming that other creatures like me would be coming out of those rooms, something about my disposition forced me to flee in this situation.

"So Monger said that the new monster would be arriving soon, correct?" a voice asked, his tone even and accented. It sounded very British to me, but I was too panicked to really care.

"That's what I heard... pretty lucky for you, Susan, you didn't have to be the new kid for very long, eh?" another masculine, however much more gruff, voice replied.

"Yeah, I, uh, guess so," said a somewhat booming, however feminine, voice. This voice was _Susan_, I guessed. "Um… does the General know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Oh, oh! I know what boys are! They're the ones with boobies, right?" the last voice, another masculine voice, said, laughing at the end of his sentence.

"No, B.O.B., girls are the ones that have those! How many times do I have to tell you that—?"

Huddled against the table, I could feel slight tremors as they moved closer. Putting two and two together I figured that this table belonged to the loud and tremor-inducing... giantess... Susan.

Peeking out from behind my cover, I could only gawk at the sight casually walking towards me. A man with a cockroach head, a large fish-ape looking hybrid, and a giant pair of legs all nonchalantly strolled towards their seats as I had an internal meltdown under the protective cover of the giant table. I ducked back behind the table leg; curling into myself, trying to keep collected.

"—Well whatever it is, I'm sure it will be a wonderful addition to our team! Don't you think so, Link?" the accented voice asked.

"Yeah, sure. Call me when it's a wolf-man or something manly, I'm tired of arm wrestling B.O.B. all the time—I need a real challenge!"

I began to count on my fingers to draw my attention away from the possible danger just a few feet away from me. The giantess's large, gray converse suddenly appeared by my side, making me flinch away at their sheer size.

"Okay so how are we going to do this... all right, here's the plan," I muttered to myself, "make a run for it, if they chase you, transform and scare them. Doesn't have to be a lot, th-they don't look that frightening anyway, I can do th—"

"Hi there!" came one of the voices, rudely interrupting my babbling. My head snapped up to meet the gaze of a gelatinous, blue blob that bobbed directly in front of me, a single dark red eye fixed on my face. I could only gape in return, too stunned to respond.

"B.O.B.? Who on earth are you talking to—?"

"Can't you talk?" the blob asked ignoring the accented voice, clearly unsatisfied with my silence. It moved closer, using its jelly-like body to stick its eye out at me. I tried to move sideways, having nowhere else to back up, but ended up tripping over my own feet. I fell flat on my back with a sharp gasp, though I soon found myself scrambling backwards to increase the space between myself and the investigating blob. With my cover blown, I slowly turned to meet the shocked faces of the cockroach man and the fish-ape. I gave them a faint smile and a very insecure sounding chuckle in return. Glancing to my right, I saw the giantess, Susan, staring sideways at me from her seat.

"That's... odd. You don't look like a monster to me. What kind of mad scientist created _you_, young lady?" the accented voice, which belonged to the cockroach man, asked in my direction. I threw him a quick look before bursting into purple flames.

I could hear my opposing party all gasp at the sight, but within a moment, the flame lifted from me and the transformation was complete. In place of my human self sat a larger than average wolf. Still feeling weak, I relied on my appearance to do my fighting for me. I picked myself up, baring a few fangs and growling for show. The giantess continued to stare, horrified at the little wolf underneath her table, while the others looked on, almost seeming confused at my display. Paws backed me up and out from under the table. Slowly but surely I left the veil of the table and back into the light of the room. With a reasonable distance between me and the other monsters, I turned and ran for it, practically throwing myself at the nearest wall.

"W-wait! Come back!"

I ignored the voice, unsure of who exactly called out to me. By that time I had reached the edge of the room and began pounding my paws against cold metal.

"Hello? Anyone out there? Please, let me out! It wasn't my fault, I swear! It was self defense!" I barked at the wall, "Hello? Hello?" This time the walls didn't move, no one came through a panel, no one came to explain why I was sent... _here_. My efforts began to dwindle as I stood there; clawing at the wall like it would provide me with some form method of escape if I begged long enough. "Hey... is anyone...?" I slumped against the wall, trying to regain my breath.

"Uh," Susan began, "we're not going to hurt you, I promise."

My head swung to her direction, meeting her bright blue eyes looming just a few feet away. The cockroach and company stood beneath her, forming a circle around me.

"And why should I believe you?" I scowled at her pretty pale face. They may have not looked all that threatening, but I've been told that looks can be deceiving.

"She's telling the truth, my dear, I can promise you that!" the cockroach man vouched for the group. "Where are my manners? Let me properly introduce myself," he stepped forward to extend a hand, "I'm Dr. Cockroach, PhD." his smile seemed reassuring.

I glanced at his face, and then to his hand and then back again, too scared to really accept his kind gesture. Instead I nodded, hoping that would be enough of a hint. He seemed to understand my expression, his antenna flattened and his eyes somewhat hurt, he retracted his hand and began to say something; however he was stopped by the sound of a panel opening on the adjacent wall.

The unusual looking group of monsters and I all turned and watched a man fly into the room on a small jet pack, his legs dangling comically off of the ground. "Monsters," his voice was strong and demanding, even though he looked somewhat silly flying about the room, "back in your cells."

The command seemed to depress Susan. As she stood she seemed to drag her feet back towards the rising panel on the opposite wall. The others followed suit and returned to their smaller rooms, leaving me to my wall.

"Oh, thank God—" I muttered as I transformed back into my human form, "—someone finally heard me." Pulling myself away from the wall, I trotted out to meet the man on the jet pack in the middle of the room. "Hey, are you in charge around here? Look, I really need you to hear me out on this, I—"

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I have no obligation to listen to what you have to say."

I let the words awkwardly hang in the air before I answered, "Uh… I'm sorry…?"

"You, ma'am, are a danger to the public. Therefore, you have no reason to object to your imprisonment. That's what you want to discuss with me, correct?" he floated there for a moment before allowing himself to land, eying me from his shorter stance on the ground. The stout, jet pack clad man continued to stare daggers, waiting patiently for my answer.

"Ah… yeah. That's what I wanted to talk about." I answered carefully.

"Well, like I said, I have no obligation to make any deals with you."

"What makes you think I'm looking to make a deal?" I was becoming a bit disgruntled by his disrespect; my apprehension being replaced with aggravation. "I'm just wondering where I am and why I'm here exactly?"

"Here," he pointed me in the direction of the wall I was clinging to just moments ago, "let me explain."

As we walked towards the wall, another panel lifted and he resumed his flight into the air. On the other side of the panel stood a long hallway. People in white lab coats stood on high perches on each side of the hall walking and talking, most of them carrying clipboards and coffee mugs. In the middle of this new space stood a small platform on a railing, which he motioned for me to get on.

As I stepped out of the room onto the little square, it began to move me down the long hall and past all the inspecting scientists. The man on the jet pack flew close to me, keeping his eyes glaring straightforward at nothing in particular.

"My name is General W.R. Monger, and I run this facility." he stated before taking a moment for me to survey my surroundings, glancing at scientists whispering and taking notes as my small platform rolled by. "I've been capturing and containing monsters here in this facility for the past fifty years to help protect the general public and the monsters themselves from the havoc they may cause."

Letting his words sink in, I continued to look around. It was obviously a big place with a lot of people, a lot of smells and sights despite the ever-so bland color of gray plastering everyone and everything.

"You do realize that I have an actual life, right? I've got things to do that don't involve being in prison." I piped up as the platform rolled out of the hall.

"Yes, well, despite all that you have made yourself known to the general public, so there's no way that I can tell you won't reveal yourself again." he replied, spinning to face me. The platform began to change its course, ascending to higher parts of the rail it was following.

"General, I—" I paused as the platform made a sharp turn, "—I've been in hiding for almost twenty years. I only transformed because I was provoked, sir," the platform took another quick turn, guiding me towards a large room with a few glass panels lining the wall. "I wasn't the problem, those people who attacked me were. If I hadn't defended myself, they probably would have done something a lot worse than just threaten me."

My tone visibly shifted from even to exacerbated in record time; becoming increasingly bitter from the injustices I was being dealt.

Before he could reply, the platform rolled by the first glass window, which contained this massive, orange bug. I remember looking back at it as I fled from the other monsters, too busy to register its existence until just now, its gargantuan size somewhat hard to miss despite its stoic posture over in the corner it was stationed in earlier. Craning my neck up at it in disbelief, the bug let out a roar, and proceeded to sniff the glass as I rode past it. It moved its face in a way that it could get a good look at me with one of its eyes.

"Hi there," the bug roared in its animalistic speech. I smiled and gave the bug a small wave, quite satisfied that I could understand it just as well as I could understand any other ordinary animal.

As we continued on, the General continued his silence, letting the other glass panels entertain me with the monsters boxed inside them. The next was filled with day-old looking water and the fish man lifting weights inside.

"How's it goin' wolf-girl?" the fish man inquired, lifting the weight above his head. I didn't bother answering him, figuring my reaction from seeing him before would suffice. The next panel had the curious blob B.O.B. caged behind it, happily bouncing a ball against the steel walls and absorbing it each time it came back to hit him, not even noticing me as I casually rolled by his window.

The last panel had the cockroach man, Dr. Cockroach PhD, caged inside, working diligently on some sort of contraption behind its confines.

"Ah, hello!" he called upon seeing my platform approach his cell, "How are you feeling, my dear? I apologize for the scare before,"

I tried to pull some sort of response out of myself to make up for the way I had reacted to him earlier, but only an invigorated nod of the head and a, "good" came from me. That seemed to be enough to get him to smile though, his antenna picked up and eyes brighter than before.

"Excellent! I'm glad you're feeling better."

Another nod reflexively came as I caught my last glance of the Doctor, finally arriving to a stop in front of the last panel. However instead of glass, a steel door covered the fourth cell's wall. Before having too much time to think about it, the door's jaws opened up to reveal the giantess, Susan, huddled up in the far right corner, flinching away as light invaded her cell.

"Since we captured Ginormica here only about two weeks ago, it seems we haven't had time to put together another cell," the General began to explain, "it's not very often we catch so many monsters in such a short amount of time! So for the time being, we're just gonna have ya'll stay here together. You know, like roommates."

"Hang on; you never even bothered talking about how this whole mess isn't my fault. You know it isn't, General. I was attacked and I had no choice—" I could feel the anger welling in my voice, "I don't belong here, I've got a life outside and you can't tell me that I can't live it!"

The platform suddenly began pulling me into the darkness of the cell, its jaws swallowing me up just as effectively as my words were being swept up by the hallow space around us, no one in particular really caring for what I had to say.

"You can't do this," the door began closing safely in front of my eyes.

"I don't have a choice," the General replied floating there outside my door, "just think of this as a vacation that never ends. And hey, look at the bright side, you've got company here!" he gestured to Susan.

Tears began to swell with the multitude of other emotions. The door ate up more of the light, two halves of the cell's jaws coming closer to meet one another.

"Oh, uh, and by the way—" the General began, turning sideways to keep eye contact with me past the closing door, "the government has officially changed your name to the Purple Wolf."

The end of his sentence was dotted with the sound of the door's two halves finally crashing with each other, creating a menacing crunch of steel against steel as they hit. The light was gone and replaced with gray nothingness, only myself and the giantess left to occupy its cold space.


	2. II

Putting my hands against the dark door, I slumped there and began to quietly cry for nothing, emotions overflowing and anger being replaced with a strange feeling of dejection mixed with a bit of absolute disbelief. The woman behind me in the corner shifted uncomfortably; probably unaware of the fact that these people were going to be throwing a werewolf into her cell that night.

"Hey," she called softly into the darkness after waiting several minutes, "It's all right, I… I understand how you're feeling right now. Do you… want to come here and talk about it?"

I could hear her tap the floor beside her, beckoning me to come and join her. With my back still turned to her, I picked up my shoulders and shrugged, rather unsure if she could actually see my response.

"I'm sure you do," I pulled myself together to say, "You don't look like you've been that size your whole life, am I right?" I let my shoulder lean against the wall so I could turn to look at her. She looked down at me with wide eyes, maybe wondering how I knew that or maybe still frightened by the fact that I could transform into a wolf.

"Y-yeah, you're right, I haven't always been this height, how did you—?"

"You're a human, I can tell. And, I'll be honest with you, the way you carry yourself—" I made a motion with my hands in her direction, "you come off looking rather uncomfortable being that size." I could see her light skin ignite in a brilliant shade of red even in the darkness of the cell.

"I, uh, I—"

"Sorry," turning, I began to slink off to the other far corner of the cell, keeping a safe distance between me and my new roommate. "that was rude of me, I'm sorry." I set myself against the wall, feeling Susan's eyes follow me all the way to me sliding down into my position on the floor.

"No, don't be," she continued timidly, "I'm sorry for scaring you before. I don't see a lot of, well, _people_ these days, so it's kind of easy to forget how…" her words trailed off, her eyes falling on her hands in front of her, "big I am."

There was a soft sadness to her voice, a quiet tone that was surprising for someone of her size. I continued to stare at her.

"So what happened? Who or what did this to you?" I picked up the conversation, pretty curious about her and her story. She was unlike the others, this wasn't what she wanted to be, this was new and she was unsure. She quickly looked back up to me, eyes still wide.

"But you're the one who's new here, you probably know a lot less than what I do," she sputtered, "don't you feel like you should talk to me about what happened to you? I mean, that's how I felt when I first got here, and the others were nice enough to listen to what I had to say..." Again, she trailed off; averting her eyes and taking interest in the ever so boring wall she was huddled against.

It was quiet there in for a moment, voices overtaken by the sound of absolute silence in that dark space between two people from different worlds, somehow thrown together into a completely new one. She tried to offer some condolence, her gentle disposition being the epitome of the apology that she didn't actually owe me. But I scared her off during the process, my questions and accusations probably making her even more self-conscious than she should already feel on her own. I pulled my glasses away from my face, taking a moment to dry my eyes.

"How did you… so were you bitten by a wolf? Or how does that thing work exactly?"

I chuckled, "No, I was born into this."

"Oh,"

"Yeah, werewolves in the movies aren't exactly… up to speed with actual werewolf culture," I laughed again as I readjusted my glasses, still finding her remark funny.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that—"

"Please, don't be." I smiled up to her, even with the intense exhaustion that was pulling at my shoulders. She seemed to reflect my gesture with an equally exhausted expression; shoulders shaking in a quiet laugh, probably from the obvious disconnections and misunderstandings between the two parties questioning each other.

"So how did it happen?" I pulled her back into it, my selfish need to know why and how she became something she herself does not quite understand. Her eyes flickered open again, falling onto my—at least by her standards—small form.

"Ah, I—"

"I promise I'll tell you how I got captured as soon as you're done." I nodded enthusiastically, keeping eye contact to emphasize my sincerity. She slunk back again, the woman I saw not even moments ago looking so relaxed was now pulling back into herself and away from my question. Was she really that afraid of me? Or was she embarrassed? Maybe she thought I wouldn't understand or couldn't comprehend the level of complexity her situation called for. Or maybe she just thought whatever happened to her was too weird to be true. Whatever the reason may be, I successfully pulled her in on this attempt. After a sigh and a hand pulling back a stray lock of her brilliantly white hair out of her view, she turned to me and prefaced her story with,

"All right, so this is going to sound pretty weird, but," she paused, giving me a moment to prepare for whatever she had in store for me, "I was kind of… hit by a meteorite."

She allowed that to sink in for a moment, lips pursed in that _yeah, I dunno _sort of way. However, I didn't give her that shocked look she was probably anticipating. Instead I sat there, staring up at this fifty-foot-tall woman, patiently waiting for her to go on. It might have been my encounter with her and the other monsters beforehand, or it might have just been that I was not what you would call normal myself, but something about this revelation didn't strike me as out of the ordinary.

So she was crushed by a meteorite and survived. Pretty good story so far. She blinked questioningly, and I nodded for her to continue.

"So I—I guess I can start by saying that it happened on my wedding day," her tone wavered ever so slightly, "I was just a normal, regular, person when it happened. I was standing outside the chapel when this… meteorite came out of nowhere and just— landed directly on top of me!" she lifted her hands up in an accusing way, probably questioning the plausibility of her story and the fact that she somehow survived it. "When I got up I tried to explain to my mom—" her eyes once again darted away from me, seeming as if she was talking to the room instead of directly speaking to me, "But she wouldn't believe what I told her, she— but how could she? _Why_ would she? I couldn't have believed it myself." She sighed, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

"So… the meteorite transformed you?"

"I'm… I'm pretty sure. I mean what else would have? As soon as I walked down the aisle, he— my fiancé— Derek… he said I was glowing. Like, glowing green," she gestured towards her face, which I would assume was glowing green, for emphasis. "and then I just started to grow and I… I didn't know what to do," her voice became more and more stricken with that genuinely soft heartache that I heard in it earlier. "These people, they just showed up out of nowhere. The next part was… kind of fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure they knocked me out and tied me up and I…" she trailed off again, her voice becoming softer with each word she pulled from the memory of her capture. I gave her a second to breathe before piping up,

"Did they really have a big enough tranquilizer dart for you?"

"Yeah, they did… how did you know that they—?"

"They used one on me too."

Her eyes distorted into a sad, understanding look. I simply smiled at her in return, trying to convey to her that it was all right. We were all right. She must have understood. She chuckled, sniffling a bit and rubbing her now watery eyes.

"I'm Susan, by the way," she pulled her hands away from her eyes, her expression changed into one with a hint of warmth behind a timid smile.

"Hey, Susan," I greeted her with a nod, "I'm Katherine."

"It's really nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

It was quiet there for a moment, however this time the silence had the distinct sense of empathy lingering in it; regarding one another with quiet consideration. I took a second to look down at my clothes, finally noticing that I wasn't wearing the same things I had on the day I was caught. The black jumpsuit that I had been thrown into resembled a miniature version of the suit Susan was currently wearing, except mine had been accented with purple instead of the orange Susan was sporting. She held her legs close to herself, a smile playing on her lips and her eyes lazily looking off at nothing in particular. I rubbed the fabric of my suit's collar between my fingers, studying her from my position on the opposite side of the room.

Not much else was said that night—not that there really needed to be said in the first place. With Susan and I both letting my story slip our minds, we instead sat there feeling content with knowing there was some small piece of insight that we both could share.

* * *

The panel behind me began to rise, filling the cell with that now all too familiar white light and causing my sleeping roommate to stir. She pulled herself off of the ground and stretched, making herself appear even taller than normal. I could feel an involuntary tense in myself, still intimidated by her height.

"Good morning, Katherine," Susan greeted me with a sigh, "did you get any sleep last night?"

"No, I didn't. Couldn't sleep, too much to think about." I shook my head.

"Oh, I'm… I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault." I shrugged, lying to her. Something about being in a room with someone who's almost five stories taller than you is somewhat off putting, even if you are a werewolf. My mind kept me awake with the thoughts of my imprisonment, but my eyes stayed open for Susan. Just in case.

"Maybe you'll feel a little better after you have some breakfast?" she asked, pointing out into the next room. I nodded, getting up and walking out with her. The other monsters emerged from their cells as well, meeting Susan and I in the middle of the room.

"Ah, good morning, Susan! And you too, um…"

"Katherine. My name's Katherine. Good morning, Doctor." I introduced myself to the inquisitive cockroach, nodding at him as politely as I possibly could. He and the other two monsters I had met yesterday took a seat at their table, the forth chair left for me.

"Hi! I'm B.O.B."

"The name's Link."

"It's nice to meet you guys—I mean to actually meet you guys." I said to them as I took a seat. I looked over at Susan, who gave me a reassuring smile from her chair. Not a moment later several tubes descended from the ceiling, bearing a meal specially made for each monster. Fish for Link, garbage for Dr. Cockroach, some sort of oatmeal goop for Susan, and—well a ham was shot into B.O.B..

Looking around, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wasn't receiving anything. I waited a moment, watching the others—aside from Susan, who was poking at her food—enjoy their meals. I looked to her for an explanation, something she couldn't provide me. She shrugged without knowing what to say.

There was a loud clatter that suddenly came from behind me, which turned out to be the last tube depositing a dog bowl and a slab of raw meat out into the dish. The others watched the tube make its exit as I stared at the food, mouth agape.

"You have got," I growled, getting up from my seat, "to be kidding me!" I kicked the dog bowl hard, sending it and its contents flying across the room, creating another metal clang as it hit the ground. The others were silent as I stood there, hands balled into fists, wordlessly grumbling at what I had been served.

"You know," Link sighed, leaning back in his chair, "they're not gonna give you anything else to eat until you eat that. It's a waste of food."

"Why did you do that?" B.O.B. questioned me after Link had broken the silence, his tone child-like.

I took a minute, breathing deeply and trying to keep myself composed, then turned back to face B.O.B. to answer his innocent question.

"Why? Because that," I pointed to the meat, its juices greatly contrasting from the stark white floor, "was disrespectful. Why even bother giving me a chair if you're going to pull that?" walking over to the discarded dog dish, I picked it and the food up. "Might as well give me a mat and a chew toy while you're at it." I huffed, tossing the unknown meat back into the dish. Laughing at my own joke, I put the bowl back onto the ground near my chair. Susan twirled her spoon in her hands, lips pursed, focusing on keeping her eyes off of me.

I figured fighting this wasn't going to get me anywhere. Sitting down in front of the dish, I transformed and dug in. It didn't actually taste too bad, even after being on the floor. I kept myself hunched over the dish, not especially wanting the others to see the ravenous look on my face.

After finishing, I scooted away from the dish and looked at the others. Dr. Cockroach looked back, eyes bugging out more so than they normally did.

"Ah, dear, you—" he stuttered, pointing to his own face, "you've got a little—"

I realized what he was trying to say, and transformed back into my human form, using a sleeve to clean the blood off of my face. I couldn't see it myself, but I suppose seeing a wolf with blood on its fur is a good enough reason to look frightened like the Doctor did.

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be, dear! You got it." he nodded, his antenna flickering ever so slightly.

We all went quiet again. Getting up and walking back to my seat, I sighed, regretting my outburst. After a few minutes, the others resumed their daily routines; Link went to find a table, then he and B.O.B. played cards while Insectosaurus helped Link stomp his way to victory. Dr. Cockroach scurried off to prepare some device to return Susan to her normal height, while Susan explained to me that she and the Doctor had been practicing these experiments daily; her only possible way of returning to normal being the help of the intelligent bug man who had plenty of time and effort to spare. Trying to find my place in their daily life, I chose to watch Doc hook Susan up to, as he put it, his greatest invention yet.

He cranked his homemade machine, cackling quietly to himself after Susan asked him politely not to laugh like that. I sat close by, splayed on the floor in wolf form.

"Now, I'm not entirely sure of the possible side effects…"

"Are you sure we should try this then, Doctor?" Susan asked as she wrung her hands nervously.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, there isn't anything to worry about!" Dr. Cockroach insisted. Susan muttered something about his reply, but I was too busy being jostled by the tremors Insectosaurus had been making to listen.

"…threes?" Link asked after Insecto had finished stomping his foot. B.O.B. threw his cards down in a huff, questioning Link's amazing luck. The fish-ape sighed triumphantly and the two shuffled the cards again.

"Is this what you guys do all day?" I rolled over to ask Susan. She nodded, shoulders falling in a disheartened sort of way. "Well," I sighed, curling up into a comfortable position, "guess I've got a lot of time to think about my life choices up to this point."


	3. III

I woke up in my human form, back in my cell with Susan on the opposite side of the room, her legs pulled closely to her chest. I fumbled around in the darkness, startled and confused. I must have fallen asleep—or did the whole kicking the dog bowl incident never happen? No, I could see the stain on my sleeve from my meal earlier today.

"Oh my God, I'm stuck here." Something overtook me in that moment, causing me to panic. "What am I going to do," I stood up, using the wall to steady myself, "what am I going to do?" I leaned against the wall, feeling absolutely frustrated. Breathing in, I transformed; taking a moment to focus my energy and concentrating it into something physical. I exhaled, opening my muzzle and allowing a scorching purple flame to come forth, searing the wall I was facing. Even with all my power behind it, my fire didn't have an effect on the wall.

"Ugh."

I transformed back again.

"Let me out! I don't belong here! Let me out of here right now!" I banged both hands on the wall I had just burned, the metal felt hot against my palms. I kicked the wall, focusing my energy into my legs; purple bursts lit the room with each kick, barely making a dent in the unforgiving steel. "You can't keep me here forever!" I practically screamed, still tussling with the wall. "You can't do this…!" my energy was draining fast. I pulled back, refocusing my fire, allowing it to accumulate. Panting, I swung around at the sound of something shifting behind me. Susan was awake and wide-eyed, fear painted on her face. I snapped my fingers together, creating a small flicker of fire on the tips of my fingers.

"Aura," I breathed, "it's my energy." Turning back to the wall, I pulled my hand back, charging my lit fist and gave it a fiery swing. Another. And another. And another. Nothing. Nothing came from my fighting. Panting heavily, I kicked the wall one more time before sliding to the ground, having exhausted my finite energy. I looked at Susan, who was practically cowering in her corner.

"Why are you afraid of me?" I asked her angrily, "You're like ten times bigger than me; you could crush me if you wanted to. Stop being so scared!"

She flinched at how loud I had become, hurt by my aggression. She refused to look at me. Things were quiet. I took a moment to breathe and dried my eyes on my sleeve. It would be nice if they had tissues here, I had already used my right sleeve for food and now I was using my left for tears. I was running out of sleeves.

"What's wrong with you?" she almost stated instead of asked, still looking elsewhere. I started, somewhat surprised by the turn of events.

"What's wrong with _me_?" I repeated, "I've got a life out there, they can't just lock me up in here and tell me that I can't leave!"

"Yeah, well," she finally looked at me, eyes cold and angry, "you're not the only one here who's suffering in here."

I looked at her, my anger being replaced by sudden embarrassment. My anger was misplaced, and each time I did something dumb I immediately regretted it. Hugging my legs close, I curled up against the wall, my eyes still pinned to her. She held my stare, her eyes still pale and vexed.

"I'm sorry," I choked, "I'm just… I'm just scared. I'm sorry."

Her expression changed in record time, with a blink of her eyes she softened, relaxing her shoulders and crouching in a way that she could make better eye contact with me.

"No, I understand how you feel," she sighed, "you just… express yourself differently than I do."

I imagined for a second how well things would go over if Susan had been acting the way I had. The thought left me frightened, to say the least.

"I don't mean to, I'm not an angry person, I just…" I tried to cover up my mistakes, making futile attempts to look like less of an idiot. "I'm just upset."

Susan nodded without saying anything, almost as if she were waiting for me to go on. It was silent for a minute, Susan still hunched over with her eyes glued to me from across the room.

"You fell asleep." Susan stated. "I think you really were exhausted from… all of this, so we let you sleep. Eventually we had to go back into our cells, so I carried you in here. The General ordered me to do it." she went on, eyes darting away from me. "I was so scared to pick you up, I thought that I might drop you," her tone seemed to reflect her emotion from the situation, even if I had been asleep through it, "and when I finally did pick you up, I was so shocked. You were so light, I could hardly believe it. I was holding a _person_ in my hands. A living, breathing person. I mean—you were a wolf, but still," she fiddled with a stray strand of her hair, pulling it out of her view. "I got you off the floor and got a little ways, but… but you rolled over and transformed in your sleep." she regained eye contact with me. "I jumped and almost dropped you, but I caught myself just in time. You really scared me though." she smiled at me, a slight laugh coming off the end of her sentence. I pulled my legs closer; the thought of someone holding me so effortlessly was somewhat jarring to me.

"Oh, yeah, sometimes I transform in my sleep. Sorry I scared you like that, Susan." I apologized, trying not to look too shaken. She laughed at this.

"No, it's okay, it wasn't your fault."

Silence lingered between us, both unsure where to take this next. I looked away from her and to the wall I had just so mercilessly beaten minutes ago, a few slight dents and a singed patch of metal had been left on the otherwise immaculate wall. I reached out to it and touched it in an apologetic way.

"So you never told me about what happened."

I looked back at Susan, a lighthearted smile played on her face. I moved away from the wall, scooting out towards her. Still crouched, she looked to me with the up most attentiveness. I sighed deeply, crossing my legs and leaning forward as if I was telling her a secret.

"I don't know where to begin."

"The beginning is always a good place to start."

I narrowed my eyes at her, failing at keeping a smile from coming across my face. She laughed, waving at me to continue.

"Well I, uh," I fiddled with my hands nervously, "I was… I was out late one night at the library—I had been studying for an exam."

"You go to school?"

"Of course I do. You did, didn't you?"

"I… I dropped out of college for Derek, but—" she seemed to match my awkwardness in that moment, "but this isn't about me." she nodded for me to continue. I watched her carefully, her tone leaving me curious about the answer she had just given me. She nodded again, obviously trying to get me to drop the subject.

"Anyway, I… it was too late when I left, I knew that, and I know I should have called a cab, but my apartment—it's not too far from there. Not even five blocks." finishing off the introduction of my story, I took a breath and glanced down at my lap, embarrassed to talk about what came next. "These people approached me and tried to mug me. There were two guys and a girl. One of the two guys threatened me with a knife, and the girl told me they had other weapons, but—" I spoke quickly, trying to work all this out as fast as I possibly could, "but I didn't believe her. The only thing they actually had was the knife. They didn't seem like they've done that before, and honestly, I can't blame them, they looked like they were desperate." I looked back up at Susan, tilting my head to the side, thinking about these people and feeling some form of empathy for them. "I didn't have much on me, only five dollars I think. They wanted my books, though. I refused to hand them over, and the guy with the knife—" I paused for a moment, placing a hand on my right side just below my ribs. I had almost forgotten, and suddenly wanted to back track out of this entire situation.

"Yeah?" Susan asked after allowing a few seconds of silence between my words, "What did he do?" her eyes seemed to plead, genuinely curious and concerned about what happened to me.

"I, uh, he—the guy with the knife, he," I chuckled, finding it funny that this revelation would come as anything but a surprise, un-tucking my shirt from my belt and lifting it slightly, "he stabbed me."

A gash with dried blood had been left on my side, unattended to in the confusion and abruptness of my capture and introduction into my new home. Susan gasped, covering her mouth with her hand and pulling back slightly.

"Oh my God," she whispered, suddenly moving out towards me, "we need to get you some help." she was now a mere few feet away from me in a matter of seconds, her swift motion startling and causing me to involuntarily shield myself with my arms. She didn't seem to be bothered by this.

"Let me see it for a second," she made a motion with her hands for me to show it to her again. I complied, putting my hands back down and revealing the ugly wound to her.

"It's fine, Susan, it really isn't that deep. Besides, werewolves are pretty fast healers, I think it's already closed, actually—"

"You still need to get that looked at, Katherine, it could get infected. I can't believe that they didn't take care of that when they captured you."

Susan backed away from me, standing up and taking a few strides over to the other end of the room, knocking on the wall as if it were a door instead of a holding cell.

"Hello? Is anyone out there? We need some medical attention in here!" Susan called out.

"If they didn't bother to come and check on why I was screaming and shouting before, then there's no way they're coming here to help me."

She ignored my comment and continued knocking on the wall; her voice echoed in the cell but seemed to go unnoticed. She waited a few more minutes, but ended up sighing dejectedly.

"Then at least let Dr. Cockroach take a look at it." she all but asked, turning back to me.

"Okay, yeah, I'll... I'll let him look at it." I agreed, hoping that would get her to leave the whole situation alone. She hesitated there for a moment, a hand still pressed to the wall. But after another thought she returned to her seat on the ground.

"I didn't mean to get you all concerned like that," I laughed quietly, "I'll be honest, I almost forgot about it until I started talking about how I got captured. Werewolves and humans are… different when it comes to injuries. I mean I can feel it and I know it hurts, we're just stronger and can take a lot more damage than humans can."

Susan eyed me, looking as if she wasn't buying what I had to say. I reassured her with a smile and a shrug, unsure how to explain the reason why werewolves worked the way they did. We were just different.

"So what happened then?" she asked cautiously.

"Well, I, uh… I broke a rule. The most important rule, actually; the rule that keeps werewolves out of places like this." I glanced around the cell, its confines representing the literal consequence of what would happen to shape shifters that didn't adhere to the basic rules of conduct when living among humans, "I panicked and transformed in front of them—attacked the one who hurt me."

Susan's eyes widened at the word _attacked_. I pulled back, explaining what I meant.

"I mean I—uh, I transformed and just knocked him down, I would never actually_ hurt_ anybody," I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed, "I was just acting in defense." I could feel the blush creep up my chest and into my face. There was something about her, something that made me want to reiterate that, yes, I would never go out of my way to harm anyone; I wasn't _that_ kind of monster. Thankfully, my explanation sufficed. Susan nodded understandingly, waiting for me to go on.

"The other two ran, and I think that's when they called for help. I think Monger and his men must have the phone lines constantly wired or something—how else would they have known? I mean what are emergency operators supposed to respond to, 'a girl just turned into a wolf and is now attacking my friend'?" I held my hands palms up and shrugged my shoulders. Susan matched my gesture, equally puzzled about the answer to my question. "They probably just overheard the call and took control of the situation. However they did it, they were _fast_." I fiddled with my belt for a moment. "I hadn't noticed the other two scramble away, I was too busy pinning the one on the ground. I think I barked something at him about how he was crazy, and how much that had hurt—but, of course, he wasn't listening." I rolled my eyes. Susan smirked at this, evidently finding something funny in a wolf lecturing someone on how it wasn't nice to hurt others. "It didn't take me very long to realize what I had done; the tranquilizer was stuck in my side not even two minutes later."

Susan cringed at this, probably recalling her own capture and the sudden pinch of that needle spreading anesthetics throughout her system much like it did to me.

"I tried to run, but you see how well that turned out." I sneered.

"What happened to that boy?" Susan questioned, tilting her head slightly. I shrugged.

"I'm not sure; once they hit me I got right up and ran. I should ask Monger next time I see him though, I guess." I stopped talking, looking down at my lap and taking a minute to really think about those people. I felt bad, and felt like some of the blame fell on me, even if they were the unfortunate folks who unknowingly preyed on a predator.

"I hope that they did something about it, it isn't fair that they did that to you."

I nodded. There was a beat of silence between us before Susan sighed, "Thanks for telling me about what happened, Katherine." she stated as she leaned back, taking everything I had said into account. "It's nice getting to know the people you room with."

I grinned up at her, finding comfort in that I had someone to talk to. There was another skip in the conversation, both parties taking a moment to collect their own thoughts.

"So, uh, I was wondering," Susan suddenly started; she leaned forward again, her legs crossed and hands in her lap, "How… how did you do that thing?"

"What thing?" I smirked at her, unsure of what she meant.

"You know… that thing you did before—uh, that fire. The thing were your _hands _were on_ fire_. _Purple _fire." she gave me an innocent smile and a timid chuckle, probably still startled by what she had seen. I smiled full force.

"You mean this," I held my hand out to her, pooling energy into my palm and igniting it into a small spark of a flame, "this is aura—it's like a… a physical form of my energy. Werewolves have the ability to control their aura. Not all of us can do it, but if you start training early and do it often enough, you can get some results," I laughed as I watched her eye the flame, as if she had never seen fire before, "everyone has aura, actually," I shifted the small, purple flame into my other hand, rolling it into a ball and toying with it. "It's the essence of a person; you have an aura, the other monsters have aura, Monger has an aura—it's something that we all have."

"But you can… control yours."

"Exactly." I smiled at her. "Werewolves have an inherent affinity with the spirit; it's almost natural that most of us have the ability to control our own vitality."

She nodded at me, still watching me play with what was essentially a fire from my soul.

"Are all auras purple?" she asked me, coming off as rather curious. I continued smiling, feeling passionate about what I was explaining.

"No, actually, the color depends on who you are."

"So then… what's the color of my aura?" she challenged me, her expression inquisitive and posture yearning for an explanation. I stood up, approaching and analyzing her, looking and sensing her for the answer.

"That's… odd," I looked her over, while she straightened up, possibly thinking a better view of her would offer up better results, "Susan, you… I've seen a lot of colors before but wow," I blinked at her, this being the first time I had seriously tried to identify her aura, "I've never seen such a _bright green_ before. It looks like it... wasn't always that color, though."

"I—is that not normal?" she looked as if she had just become overly self-conscious by this revelation, pulling back and putting a hand to her chest, "Why would—"

"It was the meteor." I interrupted in a matter-of-fact manner, suddenly remembering the vital parts of her transformation; I had realized that the color most likely stemmed from the space rock, resulting in her body taking on the aura of that space rock that so mercilessly struck her on her wedding day. "That's where that color is probably coming from. Whatever that thing was, its energy was so great that it actually _changed_ the color of your own aura. That's... jeez, I'll be honest with you, I've never heard of anything like that before."

Susan scooted backwards, still clutching her chest, and nodded at me. Once back in her corner of our cell she pulled her legs to her chest and buried her face in her lap, soft sobs slowly rising from her direction. The sudden change in tone left me standing there awkwardly, groping for the proper words to say to her.

"I... Susan, I—" She didn't appear to hear me. Something in me suddenly caused me to dash out towards her, "Susan I'm really, really sorry. I just… I don't know what to say besides sorry. I'm sorry that happened to you, that you—"

She interrupted me with another choked sob. I fumbled with my hands, pulling my belt up and straightening out my shirt, craning my neck slightly as I tried to search for her face from my new position on the ground.

I hadn't intended to remind her of that frightening rock; big and burning, unintentionally removing her from her own life. Its energy mutating her in a way so foreign, that those people, those normal people like her, resorted to erasing her entire existence without so much as a word to the rest of the world, unrightfully stripping her of her volition. Despite already having put two weeks in her current state behind her, the thought of that dumb space gravel had put her over the edge. It hadn't been enough time to heal; to process what, exactly, happened to her. Being so blunt about her situation hadn't been right on my part.

Carefully I continued to inch towards her, until I had found a point where I could reach out and pat her on the ankle, awkwardly letting her know that I was there. She rubbed her eyes before glancing down at me, stifling a small laugh at how dumb I looked, arm extended fully to keep as much distance between us while trying so hard to abate her tears. Looking up at her my smile was insecure, I was stuck between trying to comfort her and trying to overcome my itching fear of her.

She smiled back at me, working to regain her composure.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Katherine, this was just… an accident."

I shrugged at her. She sighed.

Backing away from her, I found a spot on the ground about five feet away from where I was just standing and transformed, lying down with my head atop my paws. She let her face rest on her knees, watching me with now red eyes.

"Well, I'm still sorry."

She chuckled this time, shifting slightly and closing her eyes.

"Get some sleep, Susan."

"You too. Good night, Katherine."

It took all my courage to close my eyes, but I managed.


	4. IV

**Hey look here's another chapter! It's a little bit shorter since I've been busy with school, but yeah! Here it is! Before I let you go though, I'd like to take a second to say thanks to Nimiam for the kind review; I'm sorry it took me so long to post this, and I'm sorry I don't have any other way to contact you, but I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciated what you said and it really encouraged me to keep on writing. So thank you so very much! I hope you like this chapter, and I promise to keep on posting.**

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It had been a while since I had felt so rested. I breathed out, not bothering to open my eyes. A strange but comforting sensation tickled at the fur on my head, reaching down to my back. This motion was repeated, starting at my ears and ending at the crook of my back in a steady rhythm, leaving me with a warm feeling welling up in my chest with every touch. Turning over, I stretched and yawned; joints popping at the sudden movement while that listless caress followed me, continuing its gentle flow.

Humming as I exhaled again, I opened my eyes to see Susan, hunched over with a placid smile on her face, cautiously petting me with her right hand. Once this fully registered in my head, my eyes snapped open; purple flames shot up, concealing my transformation back into my human form. She withdrew her hand at the flames, that innate reflex protecting her from the possibility of being burned.

"Were you just _petting me_?" I barked up at her as I backed away from her on the floor, still dazed. She blushed as she wove her fingers together, fastening her hands around her legs.

"W-well, when you put it _that_ way, it sounds like you're a... kinda like a—"

"You mean like a _dog_?"

She bit her lip, looking at me anxiously. I glared at her for another moment before standing, brushing my clothes quickly while holding her stare.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… uh, pet you, you just," she stuttered, trying to find the right words, "you just looked… _cute_ sleeping there. Kind of like a little puppy." her expression was candid, posture tense but timid. I sighed, finding it difficult to be mad at her. I wasn't going to admit it, but being pet actually felt really nice—_no, I just said that I _wasn't_ going to admit it_.

"I'm not _cute_," I grunted, tightening my belt as I stood up, "if you were your normal height you'd probably think I was a lot more… intimidating." I glanced back up at her, unable to fight the blush that was creeping into my face. "I'm not mad, I just—you _scared_ me, that's all."

"I… I did?" her expression changed, looking abashed at what I had said. "Oh, I—I'm really sorry, Katherine, I didn't mean to do that, I just…" her voice trailed off, looking away from me dejectedly. I squirmed, immediately regretting my choice of words, quickly learning that being a scary monster wasn't on her list of things she wanted to be. I had to be conscious of that one.

As if on cue, the panel behind Susan began to shift and rise, revealing the common area and the other inhabitants who shared our space, all casually moving out from their own humble abodes to meet us in the center of the room. Susan followed suit, maneuvering herself up and out of the cell and towards the others.

"Are you coming?" she turned and called to me, already a ways away after taking a few steps. I nodded wordlessly, shuffling out from under the door and after Susan, hunger getting the best of me.

"Ah, good morning, Susan! And good morning to you as well, Katherine!" Dr. Cockroach chirped upon our arrival, his hands folded over his crossed legs as he sat himself in his designated seat at our table.

"Good morning, Doc, and good morning to you guys too." I smiled at the Doctor, then to Link and B.O.B., who were both too preoccupied getting a round of cards in before breakfast.

"Mornin', kid," Link yawned without looking my way. B.O.B. was too busy accepting the several cards that Link was handing to him.

"Um, Susan, if you don't mind me asking," Doc began timidly, "what exactly was all the ruckus about last night? I don't mean to pry, but there was a point where I was starting to get a little bit concerned." his antenna flickered occasionally, hands held tight in his lap.

"Oh, uh, it was nothing, Doctor, just—" Susan stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening in realization, "Dr. Cockroach, you have to help Katherine," Susan left her chair, crouching on the ground to get on level with the rest of us. Doc jumped at this, hands leaving his lap and legs uncrossing at the sudden urgency in her voice.

"She was hurt before she was captured and General Monger either didn't see her wound or bother to treat it. Go on, show him." she moved closer to me, hands gently nudging me forward and out of my seat. I cringed at her touch but went along with her, moving up and over to Doc on the opposite side of the table.

"I told her that it was fine, Doc, but she didn't listen to me," I muttered to him as I revealed the wound to him, dried blood cementing the hideous gash on my side.

"Oh, goodness, that does not look 'fine' to me, dear," the Doctor replied apprehensively, approaching me and examining the cut up close, "here, come with me."

Without another word, he took my hand and led me away towards his cell, leaving Susan and the others to their now arriving breakfast. The door to his cell rose as we advanced, anticipating our arrival. Sitting me down in the corner, he hurriedly dug through a large blue and yellow toy box, the only object that was currently occupying the space of his room.

"Dr. Cockroach, I—"

"Hold still," he interrupted, shoving a thermometer into my open mouth. I gagged. "Thank you." he approved me after waiting several seconds to receive a reading, removing the unpleasant tasting indicator from underneath my tongue.

"—I already told Susan, and I'm not sure how much you know about werewolves, but we heal differently than humans do, just look at it," I moved my hands over the wound, "it's okay now. It just needs to be cleaned, that's all. I don't need my temperature checked."

"I'm sorry, my dear, I was just taking some precautions; can't have you running a fever, now can we?" he chuckled, waving the thermometer in the air before discarding it, moving back to his box and rummaging through its contents.

He eventually came back to me with bandages and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, along with a few other miscellaneous medical supplies and antibiotics.

"So, Doc," I began, watching as he cleaned the cut, "uh… what's it like living here?"

"Trying to force small talk?" he snickered at my comment, keeping his hands busy.

"I don't know, I'm just trying to get to know you guys."

"That's understandable," he reached for a wash cloth, pouring decent amount of hydrogen peroxide out onto it, "you never know how long you're going to be cooped up this place, so you might as well get to know us."

I flinched as he dabbed the gash with the cloth, bubbles rose, foaming angrily at the surface, indicating a healthy reaction to the bacteria killing liquid.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. What about you, though?"

"Ah, I've been here since... '52, if I recall correctly. That was the year that I successfully—ah, well, if you can call this successful—" he gestured to himself, "performed my greatest experiment. I attempted to give humans the longevity of a cockroach and, well," picking up the bandages he began to wrap the now clean wound, "you can probably see how well it turned out." he looked up at me as he finished dressing my wound with his wide set eyes, a far off despondence flashed in them for a brief moment, flickering away as fast as his antenna so often did.

"Now," he piped up, gathering his supplies and scurrying back to redeposit them all into his all-important box, "let's go have ourselves some breakfast, shall we?"

He helped me back to my feet, leading me back out of his cell and back to the others. I watched him try to pace himself, being far too polite as he slowed his regular hastened walk to match my tired, weak shuffle. That look the Doctor had given me struck me in a way; his aura, much like the others, often displayed bouts of abject grief covered over quickly in optimism; almost as if they could actually tell that I could feel what they feel by just reading their aura.

"All better?" Susan inquired from her seat high above my head. I nodded, offering a timid smile in her direction.

"Awesome." Link sighed from his chair, licking the remnants of what was once a plate of raw fish off of his fingers.

"Who are you again?" B.O.B. questioned innocently, spitting out a bone from his ham. Link rolled his eyes as he turned to B.O.B. to explain, again, for the fourth time, who I was.

"So, Katherine, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" Dr. Cockroach inquired, trying to call my attention away from Link, who was becoming increasingly aggravated with B.O.B. and his questions. I sat down in front of the dog dish on the ground and transformed, feeling more comfortable eating from the dog dish in my alternate form. Nudging the food with a paw I stared at it intensely, still exhausted from this whole ordeal I was feeling anything but talkative; especially about myself. A beat of silence passed between us before Susan took my hint and picked up the conversation for me.

"Doctor, I'm sorry, but I think she's pretty drained after all of this. Maybe we could give her another day or two to get more comfortable with us."

"Ah, oh! Yes, I completely understand, perhaps another time."

I breathed a sigh of relief before bending down and taking a bite of the raw, lukewarm meat in the metallic dish. It didn't taste too bad; at least not as bad as the thermometer, which had left a strange aftertaste in my mouth.

"Hey so how come you were able to stay away from Monger for so long?" B.O.B. called out to me from the other end of the table. Link slumped back in his seat, looking defeated after not being able to silence his companion. I looked up, having finished my meal, genuinely interested in answering his legitimate question.

"That's easy, B.O.B.," I got up and transformed again, taking a seat at the table, "Since I'm a werewolf, that also means I'm a shape shifter."

"Shape what-er?"

"Shape shifter. I have two forms, I can be a human or I can be a wolf. That's how I was able to stay undercover for such a long time—and that's actually how a lot of other monsters are able to stay outta places like this." I spoke slowly, emphasizing key words to help B.O.B. comprehend what I was saying.

"Fascinating… so you're saying that there are _other _monsters out there like you?" Doc chimed in, his expression intrigued.

"Yeah, there are plenty of other shape shifters around that aren't werewolves," I shifted my arms, still stiff from sleeping on the floor, "I mean my best friend_ is_ a dragon," I smirked, "so yeah, there's plenty of other monsters that Monger doesn't know about. It's kinda funny, actually. As long as you look like a human you qualify as a person."

"You're lucky," Link huffed, gathering up the deck of cards. I glanced at him, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, lucky enough to get thrown in here with you guys." I snorted back at him.

"No, you don't get it," he growled at me, "you're lucky because you don't_ have_ to look like a monster."

The others went quiet, even B.O.B. was able to stifle his always happy-go-lucky smile.

"At least you had a choice, we don't have that. We're always gonna get treated like this."

Picking up his chair, he called for B.O.B. to join him as he moved away towards Insecto, the deck of cards in hand. I looked up at Susan, who had been looking down at her spoon, a distraught look painted on her face. Doc sighed, antenna flattening.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, Katherine, it's all right," Doc stopped me, reaching a hand out and patting my shoulder, "he gets a little grumpy sometimes. Don't mind him."

But I couldn't help but mind him; I had taken what he had said to heart, churning those words furiously in my head and finding them interesting all the while being profoundly true. I had been given a choice, and I messed up, I deserved my punishment and deserved to be stuck behind these walls. The others, though, never had a choice or saying; completely helpless in a world run by animals that chastise those who are unique and fear those that are different.

That crushing weight of stupidity hit me hard this time around, flushing my complexion in a merciless wave of heat and embarrassment. I had been given a choice, I messed up, and I deserved this. But they hadn't been given a choice, and they certainly didn't deserve _this_.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right? Goodness, you're completely red in the face, darling!" Dr. Cockroach called, snapping me out of my thoughts; I glanced at him before turning away, the blush on my face intensifying.

"I'm fine, thanks."

It was easier lying to him when I didn't have to make eye contact.

"Uh, Dr. Cockroach? Do you think that we could—?" Susan suddenly spoke up, nervously calling for the Doctor's attention.

"Ah, yes, of course, dear! Please excuse me for a moment." Dr. Cockroach stopped Susan in her tracks, immediately understanding what she meant by the tone of her voice. He scurried off to his cell to collect his equipment, his movements fluid and invigorated, making it obvious that he was excited for another day of experimentation. Susan mumbled a thank you, her hair falling in front of her face when she looked down at him graciously.

Moving away from the table, I found a comfortable seat on the ground nearby Susan, who had moved her chair away from her table in case the experiment had gone wrong. She took her seat again, waiting patiently for Dr. Cockroach to return. I yawned, rolling onto my back and proceeded to stare intensely at the ceiling. I could hear Susan chuckle softly at me, sprawled out on the floor and glaring at the wall in front of me. It took all my strength not to turn red again; all my energy went to focusing on the ceiling high above my head, bright lights stationed in its face gave the room its artificial state of constant daylight.

I had only seen her hooked up to the Doctor's machine once before, but this time she seemed much more willing, or more so desperate, this time to attempt to return her to her normal stature.

"Susan, you told me that last time he put that thing on you it burst into flames." I stated, keeping eye contact with the ceiling.

"Yeah, I was surprised you were able to sleep through that."

"Are you sure you really want him experimenting on you?" I asked seriously, flipping back over to see her stare at me. Her eyes told me she was unsure of how to respond to this question.

"Oh. I just… I just don't know what else to do," she began, "Dr. Cockroach told me that he would do his best to help me and my… condition… so I guess I don't really mind."

It didn't matter what I told her; her pine for her, supposedly lost, humanity to be restored was much greater than the fears and uncertainty that Dr. Cockroach's homemade contraptions posed to her.

"I think you're okay the way you are. You're still you, aren't you? I mean, I didn't know you until a day or two ago, but I can only assume you're still the same person. You're just a little bit taller now." I stated, straight-faced and serious in tone. Her eyebrows rose, once again visibly displaying her internal scramble for the right reply.

"I—um, that's really sweet of you to say, thank you, but I have a normal life waiting for me out there," her eyes flickered away from me, "I can't just stay here forever."

I didn't bother responding; instead I turned my attention to Dr. Cockroach, who reappeared from his little room, supplies in hand, happily scurrying towards us. Susan followed my eyes, turning her head to silently watch him with me.

"Now," Dr. Cockroach chirped, setting his machine and its parts down, "due to the little… fire incident… yesterday, I've been tinkering with this device on my own time and I think I may have come up with a solution. However I'll need a moment to fix a few parts and pieces in it before we get started." he stifled his mischievous cackle, covering it with a cough and a wave of his hand.

"That's fine, Dr. Cockroach, take your time. Thank you again for helping." Susan responded with a nod of her head and a reassuring smile. In the meantime she sat back in her chair, keeping her hands folded in her lap. I flipped once again onto my back, resuming my staring contest with the ceiling. I wanted to continue talking to her, but the words were stuck somewhere and I couldn't seem to find them. Weariness didn't help me, pulling on my eyelids and slowing my breath as I lay there. She was so eager to leave, to try anything to escape; I admired her efforts, her determination to fit back in and resume her life, but something, perhaps my resolve or just my overtaxed body and aura demanding recuperation, made me lay there, apathetic to my imprisonment.

I closed my eyes again, letting the conversation drift away with my curiosity.


End file.
